Joan holds a masters degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is licensed to practice in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Joan was instrumental in the downtown revitalization of Northampton, Massachusetts during the early 1980’s. Heading up the National Main Street Center program for Northampton, Joan worked with the City, developers, architects and building owners on many successful adaptive re-use projects utilizing historic commercial buildings, enhancing streetscapes and improving vehicular and pedestrian circulation.

Following her work in Northampton, Joan became Project Landscape Architect for an engineering firm in Greenfield, Massachusetts where she specialized in site and streetscape design for a number of projects throughout the state.

For seven years following, Joan was the Planning and Design Manager for a destination four season resort in Vermont. During this time, Joan managed the environmental permitting, master planning and site design for the resort.

In 1999, Joan established her own firm Joan S. Rockwell & Associates located in Colrain, Massachusetts. The firm is a small woman owned business that provides landscape architectural, planning and historic preservation services to both public and private clients.

Ms. Rockwell had co-authored several important publications in the field of development and planning.

Rockwell, Joan S., Altobello, John, and Austin, William, Community Vision. “The Value of Town Centers" Successful Catskill Communities. Arkville, New York: The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Inc., November 1992

Rockwell, Joan S., Franklin County Rural Historic Landscape Preservation Plan. Greenfield, Massachusetts: Franklin County Commission, August 1992

Community Vision, Inc., A Design Manual for Sustainable Development on Cape Cod, published by the Cape Cod Commission as Designing for the Future to Honor the Past. July
1992, Received the 1995 APA Outstanding Planning Award for Comprehensive Planning along with co-authors and Cape Cod Commission.

Historic American Building Survey, the Hollywood Park Project, Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield Redevelopment Authority, Springfield, Massachusetts. 1985

Hollywood Park Urban Renewal Project, Springfield Massachusetts Environmental Impact Report: Springfield Redevelopment Authority, Springfield, Massachusetts. 1984

Conserving the Townscape: Hatfield, Massachusetts, Master Thesis; Department of Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts. 1982

(Recognitions and other stuff, may be too old)

Joan Rockwell was invited as a guest speaker in “Women in Government and Public Service” Career Seminar at Colby Sawyer College, New London, New Hampshire, 1981

Recognition for “Outstanding Woman in Business” from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, 1985

Charrette Leader for Women in Architecture and Women’s Institute for Housing And Economic Development, 1991